Jean AKA Jeannie AKA Jeanie, is a film, book and magazine reviewer for a national magazine. Most of Jean’s work is done through e-mail, which means he does not have to go into the office.
On a trip to find a gift for his girlfriend, Jean found a empty Genie Bottle. Upon picking up this bottle Jean became the bottle’s new genie powered occupant. Not only was Jean turned into a genie, but the bottle turned him into what he believed a genie of the bottle to look like, which due to his fascination with a classic 60s TV show turned into a bust young Blonde female.

A junior engineer, who works for a small engineering firm in Cocoa Beach. The firm focuses mostly on NASA projects.Neil is Jean’s best friend. When Jean was turned into a genie, Neil somehow became Jean’s master.

I’ve been there. If your ever in Cocoa Beach, waiting for a cruise (in port Canaveral) or traveling through Flordia, you should check this place out. This and the I Dream of Jeannie St is a must see for any Jeannie Fan.

I am sure they did. Even if they did not live together, they were next door neighbors, and did have a wonderful friendship. They have great chemistry, and seem to really enjoy their company. SO I’d say they did have some good years together.

Now, wait just a second. #310 was Rouyaa’s apartment. Which explains why the bottle was in it. But if that’s the same apartment that Jean is now moving into – and an “old geezer” just died there – then does that mean that Andy and Rouyaa were sharing an apartment until recently?

Unless – she gave him her bottle as a keepsake, which is why it’s in his place, rather than hers… ? But that would mean she must have moved to a different apartment…

OK, never mind. I just realized that Jean’s apartment is NEXT DOOR to #310, which is Rouyaa’s. And that’s where the bottle came from. So I was right, last week; the thief got in through the open outside door to steal the bottle, and Jean is/will be ultimately responsible for his own transformation.

And so it comes full circle. All that remains now is to find out what Jean and Neil saw during their little time-trip to the past.

In the next strip there is a flashback to when they were watching it, and his shirt is either white or a lighter gray. But I am sure that they would have cleaned up and at least changed their shirt before going out. Especially since there would be girls at a yogurt shop! Or maybe they look different because of the light from the tv.

Well… It was never disclosed how long they were together, at the beginning of the strip. But it did seem as if they had been together for a while. Enough for her to be fairly close to Jean before he got genefied.

Hmm… They did the marathon about a month before the genefication, so maybe they meet right after this. Maybe at that yogurt shop? That would be enough time to feel that close to each other.

Some people are superstitious about that, especially if it was a violent death. No indication of that here, but if a person dies alone and it takes a few days to discover the body . . . well some people are queezy about that . . . so it could have been empty for a while and the landlord would rather have some rent coming in vs. no rent.

The last time we saw the bottle before this it was in Ray’s apartment, not Andy’s. One more mystery.

Does it seem like a even more coincidence that Jean found an apartment right next to Neil’s when Jean was living in Cincinnati before? As was pointed out before, the Queen City (which is what Cincinnati calls itself) is kind of a long drive from Cocoa Beach. Think there could have been even more magic involved? Could the bottle have drawn Jean or Neil or both to the same apartment building in Cocoa Beach?

Tom, I made the same mistake. The bottle is still in Ray’s apartment, #310. Andy lived next door, to the left, the apartment that Jean and Neil are coming out of in panel 1. Between panel 1 and panel 2, the viewpoint shifts slightly to the right, and then in panel 2, we get to see the open door of 310.

Of course, just why Ray left her door open, and exactly where she is right now, we don’t know yet.

And there’s actually no indication that Jean’s new apartment is anywhere near Neil’s. Neil could be clear across town. He’s just over helping Jean move in.

Yeah, I meant that Jean would not have bothered with such a thing if they had already been living in the same building, trying to imply that Neil’s apartment was located in a different building. Neil seems to not own a car, so his old apartment location was probably convenient for getting to his workplace by foot or by bus.

Alright, so this comic needs a little follow up. Basically the intent is Jean and Neil are leaving Jean’s (New/Andy’s old) apartment. Passing by Ray’s apartment as they leave.

Ray’s door is ajar, cause someone is in it, and you see that someone leaving with something sticking out of his backpack. Why isn’t the thief a genie? Well, it’s possible the bottle isn’t turning people into genies at this point. SECOND, he’s wearing gloves. :/

Well, Rosco Coltrane stole the bottle, too, and HE didn’t get turned into a genie, either – even though he WASN’T wearing gloves. Clearly, you have to OPEN it, while it’s lacking an occupant. Had the thief popped open the top, he’d undoubtedly have gotten one hell of a surprise!

Of course, it has to have been unoccupied for some appreciable period of time, too, else it would have immediately genie-fied Neil somewhere along the way.

Yeah. Jean’s fun to watch – kind of the way a train wreck is fascinating – but Jean’s so totally self-centered that I have trouble feeling much sympathy for him/her. Rouyaa and Araceli, on the other hand, are both basically kind-hearted and loyal, even if they occasionally have a temper. (And really, who doesn’t?)

Araceli’s biggest flaw IMHO is that she’s overwhelmingly NAIVE, she’s a deconstruction almost of the original show’s plot. She’s from hundreds of years ago, and with cultural attitudes that reflect that, and more so, or is her inability or refusal to see that Jean is NOT used to Genie politics that Araceli’s had to deal with her whole life! The fact she was able to form a strong friendship with the kid shows that she’s not a sociopath, nor incapable of comprehending others emotions.

@Nobody: Yes, Araceli is naive, but that’s not her fault, and it’s curable, with time. And I don’t believe that anybody ever thought to tell her that Jean is new to all this, so her assumptions about Jean aren’t unreasonable.

Jean, on the other hand, seems permanently stuck in 5-year-old-bratty-kid mode. There have been a couple of times when he/she showed brief signs of dimly emerging responsibility, but that quickly faded again.

They’re both fun to watch, Jean’s just a much less sympathetic character.

I’m thinking the “old geezer” remark might be a set up for another Moral Lesson for Jean. In fact, looking at it from the beginning, this whole story arc reminds me of Scrooge’s magical journey into the past in A Christmas Carol: Jean (and Neil) could be learning about the dead old geezer and they crotchety old neighbor lady they don’t seem to have paid much attention to until now.

And a longer shot: Do either Neil or Jean know about their biological grandparents?

The important thing: We haven’t seen them do this yet. So at some point in the future, they are going to figure something out about Ray Eden and Andy, unless they just happen to travel back in time by some wacky coincidence (but if the latter happens they will learn about Andy and Rouyya even if they didn’t intend to).

By the way, I do think the events shown on this page must be the explanation for how it was possible for Jean to find a genie bottle that is missing its genie. It is Rouyya’s bottle, and it’s empty because Rouyya is currently Ray Eden. As a mortal woman, presumably she’s no longer sleeping in the bottle and has no real connection to it (rubbing it won’t summon her, etc.).

The whole time travel thing could possibly happen if Ray Eden ever somehow gets inside the apartment and sees the bottle. She doesn’t remember her master but she does remember that she’s a genie and seeing the bottle she would immediately know its significance. It’s possible that she’s getting just a touch senile, so she might not put all the pieces perfectly together, but she might blurt out enough to clue in Jean and Neil so they start digging.

Rouyya and Andy may yet get a happy ending. That would involve changing the flow of time, which is forbidden, but Jean is willing to break rules. Just wishing for history to change wouldn’t work, but we saw Neil and Jean in the past so it’s a short stretch to imagine them changing history (and all it would take is to talk to Rouyya and tell her not to magically put a few million extra dollars into NASA’s accounts).

Of course, if they do this, it has the potential to create a paradox. Jean helps Rouyya, Rouyya never becomes a mortal, the bottle never is left empty, Jean never finds an empty bottle and is turned to a genie, Jean never has the ability to go back in time and help Rouyya. There are ways around paradox though. Jean could steal Rouyya’s bottle before the thief found it, plant the bottle where male-Jean will find it later, then help Rouyya… and the whole time line from which the bottle was stolen would vanish, but maybe the bottle would persist, because reasons.

It’s even possible that they might figure out that they can help Rouyya and Jean won’t be turned to a genie, but Jean might actually choose not to prevent it from happening. Is being a magical genie who will live for centuries or even millennia not worth being turned female? (Of course, Jean might try to “beat the system” by trying to get male-Jean turned into a male genie, but I’ll bet that part of the plan won’t work if she tries it…)

I live very close to Cocoa Beach (have for my whole life), so much that I just about know it inside and out, and I was wondering if you wanted assistance from someone who’s a Space Coast local to help make the comic a little more authentic going forward.

Huh. So you managed to explain all the I Dream of Jeannie parallels. That the show was based on a real genie and astronaut, and the bottle they found that no longer was home to a genie was this one’s. That’s actually pretty decent writing. It eliminates all the ridiculous coincidences.